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6. SOME EMINENT LEADERS. 277
On the other hand, Rothovius was a great and a powerful
preacher, and he preached from Scripture. During his
twenty-five years previous pastorate at Nykoping he had
preached more than 3,000 times (3,183), and had covered
great part of the Old and New Testament. He was a
founder of schools, and transformed the cathedral school
into a gymnasium with six teachers in 1630. In 1640 he
prevailed upon Per Brahe, who had been one of Gustavus
principal generals, and was now general-governor of Fin
land a man of noble character to found the University
of Abo. In the year 1642 the first printing press was
established in Finland, and the Bible appeared in the Fin
nish language. When Rothovius died in 1652 he had
learnt to love the people whom he had at first ruled so
sternly as a stranger, and they had learnt to love him, and
he was greatly mourned.25
But the most striking personality of all the great bishops
was without doubt that of Johannes Rudbeckius, member
of a strong family. Like the two reformers, he was born
at Orebro, whither his father had migrated from Rudbeck
in Holstein. He was professor of Upsala first of mathe
matics, then of Hebrew, then of divinity. At the Univer
sity he had a terrible quarrel with a learned brother
professor, John Messenius (c. 1579 1636), and both were
wisely removed by the king from a place where they had
troubled others as well as themselves by their discord.
Rudbeckius became court preacher and Messenius was
made head of the archives at Stockholm, where he was in his
right place. Messenius is worthy of notice as almost the
earliest antiquary in Sweden, where he was only just pre
ceded by John Bureus (1568 1652), the first inquirer into
the runes, and the first editor of an old Swedish manu
script, the Konungastyrelse. Messenius was the founder
of the learned school of Swedish history and antiquities,
and had something in him of our Archbishop Parker, our
25
See Elis Bergroth : Den Finska Kyrkans Historia, pp.
103-9, Helsingfors [1892]. Rothovius brother, Jonas Birgeri,
was "
superintendent
"
in Kalmar, 1618 1625.
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